Washington, D.C. – Senate Energy Committee Chairman Pete V. Domenici today lauded U.S. Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman and the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy for announcing a final rule to codify fifteen energy efficiency standards for residential appliances and commercial equipment.  These standards were established as part of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 signed by President Bush this summer. 

The rule announced today addresses the following items for which the Energy Policy Act of 2005 required certain standards:  commercial package air conditioning and heating equipment; commercial refrigerators, freezers and refrigerator-freezers; commercial clothes washers; automatic commercial ice makers;; fluorescent lamp ballasts; ceiling fans and ceiling fan light kits; illuminated exit signs; torchieres; low-voltage dry-type distribution transformers; traffic signal modules and pedestrian modules; unit heaters; medium base compact fluorescent lamps; dehumidifiers; commercial prerinse spray valves; and mercury vapor lamp ballasts.

The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy estimates that the new efficiency standards mandated by the energy bill will shave 50,000 MW off peak electricity use by 2020 – energy savings equal to 170 300-MW power plants.

Chairman Domenici’s statement:

“We put tougher efficiency standards in the energy bill so we could get dramatic energy savings to the consumers faster. If we hadn’t mandated new standards in the bill, the administrative process for raising these standards could have taken years. I’m pleased DOE took its cue from Congress and moved swiftly to implement the new standards.

“These first-time efficiency standards for fifteen appliances formerly known for their energy consumption shows what American ingenuity and use of the latest technology can do to solve our energy problems. We need more of that kind of ingenuity and if we can find a way to nudge it along with legislation like we did these efficiency standards, I’m going to do it.  I think these standards will make a real difference in helping us conserve energy in an era of tight supply and high prices. I’m pleased they were in the energy bill and pleased they will be promptly codified.”